I received my B.S in Music as well as a M.M. in Music History, Literature and Theory from Texas A & M University - Commerce. I have been teaching elementary music for 15 years, all in Sulphur Springs ISD. For the first 9 years, I taught first-fourth grade, and for the last 6 years, I’ve taught third and fourth grade. Beginning next year, I’ll be teaching K-third grade. I am an active member of Texas Music Educators Association and have served as the Region 4 Elementary Chair for the last 6 years. Macie recorders and curriculum have been a part of my classroom for around 12 years now.

I see my students once per week, so my goal is that by the time they leave my classroom for the last time, they are fluent treble staff and music notation readers. Recorder is an excellent tool for facilitating young musicians to read and count correctly. I incorporate recorder in a variety of ways throughout the year. My third graders are beginners, so we focus primarily on correct hand position, posture, breathing, etc. as they first start out. I like to use instrument parts from the Orff Orchestrations that accompany the Be A Recorder Star series to allow the students to do basic two-part work once they can play beginner songs successfully. Fourth graders do more complex part-work combining Orff, percussion, and singing as they master more notes on the recorder.

This year, I have been very excited about using the interactive online method book, and love that you can change the tempo on the accompaniments. It really keeps the students’ attention, especially with the animations that accompany the illustrations above the songs. My students have been fascinated by them. Additionally, I’ve had lots of positive feedback from students who purchased the online method book for themselves. And last but certainly not least, the people at Macie are wonderful! They care about their customers and always go the extra mile with customer service.